Thankful Thursday

Today, all in all, was not a bad day. It wasn't a great day, but it wasn't bad. I had a group of "kids" from the University of Chicago in to observe this morning. I think D.J. did a fine job of entertaining them. And, lucky for him they were there, because about 30 minutes into his act, I was ready to stomp on his neck! (That's an Englewood phrase, sorry!) But, he was actually able to pull himself together later in the day, so no harm, no foul.

Of course, he's quickly becoming my favorite baby. He has moments when I want to throttle him, but most of the time, he's just a sweet little 5 year-old boy, in need of some love and affection. Today, after rest time (when, of course, he had to moved right next to me because he was being disruptive!) I asked him to turn the lights on, which is one of the most coveted jobs of the day. I told him he could do it because he was so good for the remainder of rest time, which he really was! I did have to ask him, though, why he could be so still and quiet in the "hot seat" but couldn't rest on the carpet. He just gave me a big, goofy grin and shrugged his shoulders.

I'm starting to think the disruptive behavior is his way to ensure he gets to sit next to me for those quiet 20 minutes a day. I know this probably sounds weird, but rest time very much reminds me of sitting in the dark, rocking my son to sleep when he was a baby, so it sort of has intimate, motherly feelings tied to it for me. I play the same lullaby tape I used with my son, so it's very soothing music that evokes wonderful memories for me. Having D.J. next to me makes me want to cuddle him up in my lap. Crazy, huh? It's very hard to ignore him, but I have to, because I don't want to reinforce the negative behaviors that landed him in the hot seat to begin with.

When the music stopped today, I whispered to him that he did a great job of settling down, and would he please turn on the lights. Then I said, "Hold on, come here for a second. I really need a hug. Can I have one?" First, he just looked at me like I was nuts, but then he immediately came to me and let me hug him. But I told him, "I need a hug from you, silly. Can you give me one?" He proceeded to give me a great, big bear hug. It was great! No wonder he's becoming my favorite.

I had to DIBEL about 6 more kids today. And now I'm ticked at myself for not writing down the funny answers I had planned to write about. Maybe they'll come to me later. Darn it! Good thing I bought myself that journal to write things down in so I won't forget what I want to write about, huh? Tomorrow is the end of the 'testing window' for the beginning of the year tests, so at least I won't have to do anymore until the middle of the year. Well, that's not entirely true, because now I have to do "progress monitoring" with all my kids that scored in that red 'intensive' category. Ah, such fun!

My Dori will be out tomorrow, and I miss her already. I'm already worried that her little babies are not going to be on their best behavior for the sub tomorrow. I'm going to have to be sure to check in on them a few times. Dori is going home for a wedding. What fun! I hope she has a good time.

Believe it or not, I didn't come home completely stressed out today, with my head throbbing and the desire to scream at someone. My son is very thankful for that, hence today's title.

Quote of the day:

If all the rich and all of the church people should send their children to the public schools they would feel bound to concentrate their money on improving these schools until they met the highest ideals.
---Susan B. Anthony

I absolutely LOVE this quote! I think I need to post this one at school, too, and share it with the rest of the staff! It's so true! Way to go, Susy! No wonder they gave her her own coin! ;-)